I am not a pastor, i haven’t studied theology. but i’ll bet that Scripture can speak to a graphic design major at The College of New Jersey in as just a vibrant and alive way as anyone with credentials.
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
How is this different than obtaining faith or getting stuck with it? receiving implies that its a gift, right? we pray for more of it, we don’t claim it as our own. Faith is a precious gift. God gives and gives and gives to us! Faith is precious. Jesus says that even a mustard seed of faith is valuable and can move mountains. in 2 Peter it says that we don’t earn or create our faith, but it is given to us, we receive it by the righteousness of God.
Something to ask: WHAT HAS GOD GIVEN ME FAITH IN? HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH TO ME? DO I WANT MORE OF IT?
HIS DIVINE POWER: there’s coersive power, power given to someone through giving ultimatums. There’s referencial power, people give you power because they like you and look up to you. there’s expert power, given because you’re an expert. Legit power- simply because you hold a position/title. But here, its divine power. GOD POWER > there’s nothing like it and none more powerful.
If you are a prisoner of war in a concentration camp, and you have lost hope, and hopeless, have thrown your morality away, and you learn that a prisoner exchange is being planned, and you see the guard coming down the row pointing to individual prisoners and calling them to follow him to freedom and family; it is not a mere piece of knowledge when he points to you and calls you. It is power! The power of hope surges through your body because you know you have been called. So when Peter says that divine power for hope and godliness flows through the knowledge of our call to glory, we can feel what he means. If we could but see the glory and excellence of God and know that our Creator has approached us and said, “You there, come; I’m going to show you my glory and give you an eternal life to enjoy it,” it would mean power! The power of hope and the power of godliness. You know this from experience: when you see the glory and excellence of God most clearly and know he has set his affections on you, then is when you have power to live as you ought. The knowledge that leads to life and godliness is said to be the knowledge of God’s precious and very great promises. And so we learn that the only knowledge of God that carries saving power is promising knowledge. The knowledge of the glory and excellence of God (in verse 3) gives power for godliness only if it communicates to us the happy promise that we are called and included. If after a week of rain a gloomy child wakes up on Saturday morning and sees the glorious sunshine calling him to play outdoors, new power flows into his spirit; but only if he really can go outside. If he were sick and couldn’t play, the beauty of the day and the fun of his friends outside might make him miserable. The knowledge of the glory of God must be promising if it is to carry power. We must know it and believe that we are included—that the promises are ours, that the call is to us. (JOHN PIPER)
GLORY: the excellence fo God. expresses the excellence of his being- his attributes, essence. GOODNESS: depicts excellence expressed in deeds, virtue in action.
God uses both to bring about our salvation.
4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine natureand escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
through his divine power we have been given very great and precious promises-promises that allow me to participate in the nature of God, and escape the world. what does that? HOLY SPIRIT>>PROMISE, DEPOSIT.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.-Ephesians 1:13-14
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.- John 14:15-18
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.-John 14:26
divine nature
Having the Holy Spirit allows us to participate in the nature of Heaven- the supernatural, the Kingdom of God. Spiritual Gifts. Kingdom Work. Evangelism. Prayer.
The Holy Spirit helps us escape the corruption of the world by taking way our desires for things that don’t please God.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you.–Ezekiel 36:26-29
Very practically, I think this means we must day-by-day go to the Word of God and search for great promises. Fix one or two in your mind and hold them there before you all day. And use them to overcome temptation to sin and to incite you to daring acts of righteousness and love. Notice in the last part of verse 4 that corruption comes “by passion” or “lust” or “desire.”This means that the battle against corruption is fought on the field of our desires or passions. Sin makes its attack by holding out promises to us for our happiness. And sin will always win the battle unless we have the luscious carrot of God’s promises dangling clearly in front of our noses. Unless we enter our day armed with one or two precious and very great promises,we will be utterly vulnerable to temptation. But if we hold before our eyes the astonishing things God has promised us now and in the life to come, his divine power will be present and we will escape corruption and be conformed to the image of his Son. (JOHN PIPER)
goodness- what IS goodness?
8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
other translations:
For these things being to you and abounding, do make you neither inert or unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you do these things more and more, you will be good Christans and you will know more and more about our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean that having knowledge of God is important? Why does knowledge bear fruit?
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Colossians 1:10
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, Ephesians 1:19
My In-Depth Study of 2 Peter pt.1 November 10, 2008
Posted by highofseventyfive in theology.Tags: 2 Peter, Bible Commentary
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I am not a pastor, i haven’t studied theology. but i’ll bet that Scripture can speak to a graphic design major at The College of New Jersey in as just a vibrant and alive way as anyone with credentials.
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
How is this different than obtaining faith or getting stuck with it? receiving implies that its a gift, right? we pray for more of it, we don’t claim it as our own. Faith is a precious gift. God gives and gives and gives to us! Faith is precious. Jesus says that even a mustard seed of faith is valuable and can move mountains. in 2 Peter it says that we don’t earn or create our faith, but it is given to us, we receive it by the righteousness of God.
Something to ask: WHAT HAS GOD GIVEN ME FAITH IN? HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH TO ME? DO I WANT MORE OF IT?
HIS DIVINE POWER: there’s coersive power, power given to someone through giving ultimatums. There’s referencial power, people give you power because they like you and look up to you. there’s expert power, given because you’re an expert. Legit power- simply because you hold a position/title. But here, its divine power. GOD POWER > there’s nothing like it and none more powerful.
If you are a prisoner of war in a concentration camp, and you have lost hope, and hopeless, have thrown your morality away, and you learn that a prisoner exchange is being planned, and you see the guard coming down the row pointing to individual prisoners and calling them to follow him to freedom and family; it is not a mere piece of knowledge when he points to you and calls you. It is power! The power of hope surges through your body because you know you have been called. So when Peter says that divine power for hope and godliness flows through the knowledge of our call to glory, we can feel what he means. If we could but see the glory and excellence of God and know that our Creator has approached us and said, “You there, come; I’m going to show you my glory and give you an eternal life to enjoy it,” it would mean power! The power of hope and the power of godliness. You know this from experience: when you see the glory and excellence of God most clearly and know he has set his affections on you, then is when you have power to live as you ought. The knowledge that leads to life and godliness is said to be the knowledge of God’s precious and very great promises. And so we learn that the only knowledge of God that carries saving power is promising knowledge. The knowledge of the glory and excellence of God (in verse 3) gives power for godliness only if it communicates to us the happy promise that we are called and included. If after a week of rain a gloomy child wakes up on Saturday morning and sees the glorious sunshine calling him to play outdoors, new power flows into his spirit; but only if he really can go outside. If he were sick and couldn’t play, the beauty of the day and the fun of his friends outside might make him miserable. The knowledge of the glory of God must be promising if it is to carry power. We must know it and believe that we are included—that the promises are ours, that the call is to us. (JOHN PIPER)
GLORY: the excellence fo God. expresses the excellence of his being- his attributes, essence. GOODNESS: depicts excellence expressed in deeds, virtue in action.
God uses both to bring about our salvation.
4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
through his divine power we have been given very great and precious promises-promises that allow me to participate in the nature of God, and escape the world. what does that? HOLY SPIRIT>>PROMISE, DEPOSIT.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.-Ephesians 1:13-14
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.- John 14:15-18
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.-John 14:26
divine nature
Having the Holy Spirit allows us to participate in the nature of Heaven- the supernatural, the Kingdom of God. Spiritual Gifts. Kingdom Work. Evangelism. Prayer.
The Holy Spirit helps us escape the corruption of the world by taking way our desires for things that don’t please God.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you.–Ezekiel 36:26-29
Very practically, I think this means we must day-by-day go to the Word of God and search for great promises. Fix one or two in your mind and hold them there before you all day. And use them to overcome temptation to sin and to incite you to daring acts of righteousness and love. Notice in the last part of verse 4 that corruption comes “by passion” or “lust” or “desire.” This means that the battle against corruption is fought on the field of our desires or passions. Sin makes its attack by holding out promises to us for our happiness. And sin will always win the battle unless we have the luscious carrot of God’s promises dangling clearly in front of our noses. Unless we enter our day armed with one or two precious and very great promises, we will be utterly vulnerable to temptation. But if we hold before our eyes the astonishing things God has promised us now and in the life to come, his divine power will be present and we will escape corruption and be conformed to the image of his Son. (JOHN PIPER)
goodness- what IS goodness?
8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
other translations:
For these things being to you and abounding, do make you neither inert or unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you do these things more and more, you will be good Christans and you will know more and more about our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean that having knowledge of God is important? Why does knowledge bear fruit?
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Colossians 1:10
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, Ephesians 1:19